Come Away With Me
by Mochiron
Summary: A little OishiEiji oneshot. Eiji tries to convince Oishi to sneak out of the house at night. Rated for abuse of Oishi's posterior (no, not like THAT, silly )


A/N: Just a bit of a drabble as I dip my toes back into the world of fanfiction. The title comes from the song "Come Away With Me" by Norah Jones, which played on repeat for a large portion of thi fic's creation. Comments and criticisms are most appreciated!  
  
Disclaimer: I own nothing, nothing at all. In fact my soul is being put up for auction as we speak.  
  


**Come Away With Me**

  
  
His body jerked as his mind was jolted into sudden awareness. Oishi's eyes snapped open, and he struggled to make sense of the blue-black shadows of his room. His breathing light, he could hear his own pulse against the pillow and the almost inaudible ticking of his alarm clock, In the far corner, the fish tank glowed dim, its occupants serene. Outside, through the window he'd left cracked open, was the faint murmuring of the wind against the house. And somewhere, Oishi knew water was trickling down and away, runoff from that afternoon's heavy storm. In short, everything was as it should have been, and there was nothing to account for his sudden awakening.  
  
Drowsiness pulled at his senses, and he spared a stray thought for the next day's practice schedule, and for his morning meeting with Tezuka before turning over on his stomach to go back to sleep. He was on the verge of relinquishing consciousness to the memory of the odd sock he'd found in his gym bag earlier (probably Eiji's), when—  
  
Tap, tap. Tap.  
  
Tap.  
  
Oishi's eyes shot open again as he pushed himself half up out of bed. The sound of pebbles against glass had been unmistakable. He twisted his body towards the window, sheets rustling as be tried to clear himself without getting entangled. Shifting his legs around and off the edge of the bed, his toes sought out carpet. Eyes fixed on the window, the desire to sleep was fading fast as he stared in wary anticipation. He did not have to wait long.  
  
"Oishi!"  
  
The hoarse stage whisper from the lawn held a note of something familiar, unmistakable, really. Oishi stood up as fast as his legs would allow, making it to the partially opened window in three steps. Shoving it open fully, he stuck his head out into the damp night air. He found himself both relieved and bewildered to see the shadowy figure of one Kikumaru Eiji standing amongst the bushes beneath his window, hands on hips, staring up at him.  
  
"...Eiji?" Oishi didn't try to keep the disbelief out of his voice.  
  
"Who else, nyah?" Eiji's voice was both squeaky and harsh as he tried to whisper and yell at the same time. "What have you been doing, Oishi? I've been out here for fifteen minutes!" Eiji's expectant glare was just visible the moonlight that was attempting to break through the clouds.  
  
Oishi gripped the windowsill, tiredness warring with the abrupt urge to chuckle. He wondered if his friend would think it unreasonable if he responded that he'd been sleeping, or at least trying to, since it was something most people did at night. He settled on smiling and answered a question with a question.  
  
"Eiji...is there something I can do for you?"  
  
"Hurry up and get dressed already! Mou! Oishi!" Eiji gave a little hope of impatience while Oishi failed at stifling a yawn.  
  
Oishi smiled down at Eiji, who looked ready to crawl out of his own skin, absently noting that the way his friend whisper-yelled his name sounded like a sneeze. He did allow a small chuckle to escape him then. "Ah...am I going somewhere?" he asked, bemused.  
  
Eiji rolled his eyes, making it apparent that someone was being far too slow on the uptake. "Of course you are coming with me, so you have to hurry up and get dressed, nyah, unless you want to go running around all night in your boxers!" A break in the clouds gave Oishi a clear view of Eiji's eyes glinting in the moonlight.  
  
"Running around? In my...? Eiji." Oishi gave a wry grin, reluctant. "We have school in the morning."  
  
Eiji waved this away. "Don' mind, don' mind. It'll give us something to talk about at lunch, nyah!" He allowed the barest edge of pleading to creep into his voice. "Oooishii! You want to! I know because I want to!"  
  
Oishi propped his arms on the windowsill, smiling fondly but saying nothing.  
  
Eiji scowled, and tried again. "Oishi, do you want to graduate saying you've never done anything fun?"  
  
Oishi couldn't resist a breathy burst of restrained laughter. "You asked me that last weekend. I thought your water balloon tennis was very fun."  
  
"Oooishii!"  
  
"Seriously, Eiji, you know we both need our rest for school."  
  
"Oishii...that's not a reason!"  
  
He hadn't take the time to glance at the clock when he'd rolled out of bed, but Oishi felt that it must have been a good hour or two past midnight. What had prompted Eiji to decide that the two of them should go sneaking off in the dead of a Thursday night, he couldn't fathom, but he also knew that the more he resisted, the more determined Eiji would become. That, and a a part of him couldn't deny the little thrill he'd felt when he'd found his friend standing there in the midst of his mother's plants. Eiji's eyes had promised mischief, and Oishi's compliance with his plans had been a foregone conclusion. Oishi laughed at himself. Why was it that Eiji's begging always seemed to feel like a dare?  
  
Still, for the sake of his conscience (and some part of him that wasn't above teasing), Oishi put up one last half-hearted attempt at refusing. "You know it's impossible to be quiet on our stairs, Eiji. I'll wake up everone in the house if I try to come down." He bit the inside of his cheek to keep his expression in check.  
  
Eiji frowned and cocked his head to one side. Crossing his arms, he huffed, turned around, and stalked out of sight. Something along the lines of 'Baka Oishi,' or perhaps a retreating sneeze, floated up from the shadows of the yard, and Oishi felt the beginnings of a smile playing at the corners of his mouth. He chuckled around Eiji's name, willing his friend back to the window, but his expression faltered when Eiji did not reappear.  
  
"Oi, Eiji," Oishi whispered to the foliage below. "Eiji...?" He said his friend's name as loud as he could without the full use of his voice, realizing that Eiji had probably walked out of earshot.  
  
Oishi squinted into the blackness of the yard, trying to distinguish Eiji's form from the shadows, but the moon was hidden behind the clouds again and he could see nothing. His brows knit together as he retreated from the window, groping around in the dim of his room for any spare bit of clothing he could find. He slipped into a pair of shorn-off sweatpants, and then grabbed a well-worn tank top from his gym bag, yanking it over his head. Casting a pair of old flip-flops out the window to land in the middle of the lawn below, he swung one leg and then the other over the windowsill and dropped the short distance to the soft earth of the flowerbed.  
  
"Eiji?" he said, a little louder this time.  
  
Nothing, no response. Oishi's eyes searched the yard as he stepped out from the bushes. The grass was cool and wet under his bare feet as he padded across the lawn, but Eiji was gone.  
  
Oishi's shoulders drooped and he felt something inside him sink. Granted, he hadn't put up that much of a fight, but Eiji seemed ot have taken his refusal seriously and left. He scowled at himself before turning to retrive his flip-flops from where they'd landed. Biting the inside of his cheek again, this time in self-recrimination, he stooped to pick up one sandal, tapping it against the palm of his hand. Well there was no way Eiji was going to get away with thinking that his doubles partner was incapable of a little teenage mischief. Oishi set his jaw. If he hurried, he could probably catch up with Eiji before he got too far away. Now if he could just find his other—  
  
Thwap!  
  
"Hahk!" Oishi jumped and let out a surprised squawk as something thudded against the top of his rump. Before he could turn around, an even larger something slammed into him from behind, sending him to the ground in an undignified sprawl. Air whooshed out of his lungs and he got a faceful of wet grass. He coughed and spluttered, the 'something' having pinned him quite well. Oishi could feel a face pressing against his back, just under his left shoulder, as the dead weight on top of him shook with laughter. The odd snort and wheeze reached his ears.  
  
"Uph...E-Eiji..." Oishi gasped and tried to push himself up on his elbows, incapable of muc more, as Eiji seemed quite content to remain where he was, sniggereing into Oishi's shoulder. Oishi grimaced, now certain that the odd lump that had hit him in the ass mere moments before was the same flip-flop he'd been unable to find prior to Eiji's pouncing, if the shape digging into the soft spot under his ribcage was to be any indication.  
  
Giving a quiet grunt, Oishi managed to roll himself to one side, depositing Eiji on his back into the grass next to him.  
  
"Eheh! Ehehehahaha—!"  
  
Alarmed, Oishi clamped a hand down over Eiji's mouth to muffle his friend's raucous crowing. Eiji's breath puffed warm against his skin in stuttered gusts, and Oishi could feel the vibrations of laugher just under his palm. Eiji's eyes were filled with glee, and the teasing finger Eiji was pointing at him had Oishi grinning in spite of himself.  
  
"Eiji...you..." he began, trying very hard to be indignant and failing utterly. He gave a choked yelp and whipped away the hand that had been stifling Eiji'slaughter when he felt the swipe of a tonguetip across his palm. Eiji continued to snicker and hiccough, though he seemed to have gotten the worst of his fit under control.  
  
Oishi wiped his hand on Eiji's sleeve, exaggerating a grimace. He sat up with effort, making unsuccessful attempts at schooling his face into calm, while he groped for his flip-flops and slipped them onto his feet. Standing, he made a show of straightening his clothing finger-combing his close-cropped hair. A rueful smile stayed plastered on his face as he looked down at Eiji and shook his head.  
  
_You got me._  
  
The odd chortle still escaping him, Eiji remained flopped in he grass, limbs spread wide, his toothy grin quite visible even in the half-shadow of the yard. He flashed Oishi a 'V' for victory.  
  
_Of course I did._  
  
It was with no small amount of satisfaction and glee that Eiji had watched Oishi's sandals come flying out the window, shortly followed by Oishi himself. He'd heard Oishi call out his name, had seen the disappointed slump of Oishi's shoulders when he didn't answer, and it was all he could do to wait until Oishi's back was turned before hurling himself headlong at his unsuspecting friend. Eiji had long ago that it was his sworn duty as a fellow teenager and best friend to keep responsibility from sucking all the fun out of Oishi's life. True, smashing water balloons with tennis rackets had been fun, but running around with your best friend like bandits in the night was something else entirely.  
  
Eiji scrambled to his feet, the look in his eyes excited and his smile irrepressible. He and Oishi shared a moment of knowing grins.  
  
"Hoi?"  
  
"Aa. Hoi."  
  
And then Oishi's arm was looped around his neck and Eiji didn't have time to look surprised as he was pulled out towards the waiting night. 


End file.
